


Red Hands

by denna5



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU, Angst, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 16:15:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13574211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/denna5/pseuds/denna5
Summary: Written for this prompt“I’ve never killed anyone before.”





	Red Hands

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cutthroatfics](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutthroatfics/gifts).



> So this takes place in a world where Hydra did find Steve earlier but Steve and Bucky managed to escape and going around tearing Hydra down.

They have been in this area for about a week now, one of the longer times that they have stayed in one place in the last few years, and Steve wonders how much longer they will stay here, how much longer they will go unnoticed. They have gotten pretty good at hiding over the years, being one step ahead of those after them and they have taken down quite a few bases as well. Hydra is still out there, still a threat but right now it isn’t Hydra that  has brought them to this particular town but the redhead that is across the restaurant that they sit at, the one that they have been trailing for a few days. She seems focused on the man she is with but Steve isn’t entirely sure that her attention is just on him.

“You think she has noticed us?”

Steve asks now, keeps his voice low as to not be heard and Bucky gives an answer after just a moment.

“Probably,  she took to her lessons well but she won’t  do anything about us till after her mission is over unless we interfere, the mission comes first. I taught her that.”

There is a hint of regret in Bucky’s voice, just a tiny bit of sorrow, and that is why they have sought her out. He doesn’t remember everything  that he did as the soldier and sometimes Steve thinks that maybe that is a good thing, but he remembers training a young girl, teaching her to fight, to kill, molding her into a weapon.  There may have been others as well but Natalia Romanov is the one he remembers  and they are here to either give her a chance to be something different or to stop her, Steve just isn’t quite sure which yet.

“Do you think she’ll try to finish her mission tonight?”

He asks now and Bucky gives a little nod.

“We could stop her from completing it but I don’t think he is worth being saved.”

Bucky says this now and it is something that Steve has thought about as well. There is no doubt that a lot of the blood on her hands has been innocent but the man she is after tonight is not and part of Steve knows that they should probably still stop her, have the man taken away by authorities but that could put them in risk of being noticed and he isn’t worth that. Steve just gives his own nod now.

“We’ll let her finish it, might make it easier to leave if they aren’t looking for her. You sure you want to do this?”

He asks one more time, needs Bucky to understand that it may not go well, that she may not take their offer, that it may come to a fight and Steve isn’t going to lose Bucky now after just getting him back. If she lashes out, Steve will fight right back, go for the  kill if he has to.

“I owe her a chance.”

Bucky’s voice is steady when he says this and Steve won’t argue with this, understands the guilt Bucky feels about her being in this life. It isn’t really Bucky’s fault, not any more than Bucky being found by Hydra is Steve’s, but Steve knows that Bucky doesn’t see it that way, understands it and he just gives a nod and a small smile, kicks his leg under the table softly since he can’t kiss him right now.

They stay there for a little while, keeping an eye on her and only leave after she does. They follow her, follow her as they have done for a while now and she goes to a hotel with  her target. They give her a little time, get the key to her room and head there. They decide to go in two different ways, Steve going through the door and Bucky the window, want to see how she reacts to everything.  Steve takes a breath and unlocks the door, enters the room quietly and shuts the door behind before looking to where she is.  There is not much light in the room, just one little lamp but the red of her hair shines just like the red on her hands does  and she drops the knife next to the body on the bed as she turns and faces Steve.

“I’ve never killed anyone before.”

There is a little tremble in her voice, eyes shinning now as if tears are going to spill out and she is shaking. Steve wants to go over and try to calm her down and he has a feeling that is the point of this.

“He was hurting me, saying terrible things, I just meant to make him stop, didn’t think what was happening, please don’t call any one.”

The words are coming out in a jumble, rushed and hard to make out and if Steve didn’t know who she is or what she is, he would believe them. She looks like a frightened girl now, eyes wide and tears threatening to fall, small frame shaking and face pale but he knows that she hasn’t been a frightened girl for a long time. Bucky told him all about it, about how she didn’t cry the first time her knife sliced someone, only cried after when they were alone, about how she took the sweets he offered and gobbled them down before the thank you,  how she would pick herself up after each cut and bruises.  She isn’t the innocent girl she is pretending to be right now but that isn’t her fault and Steve moves just a little closer to the bed but not too much, wants to see the real her and he speaks now, the Russian coming out clearly.

’Раньше у вас были красные руки. Много раз. Раньше у вас были красные руки. Много раз.” 

She shakes her  head just a bit, confusion settling over her face, and she bites her trembling lip as she speaks, mask still not slipping. 

“ I don’t know what you said, I don’t even know what language that is . “ 

Steve  takes another breath and repeats the words in English now, keeps his eyes on her. 

“Your hands have been red before. Many times. I have been told this.” 

Her mask is still not falling, not quite, and Steve decides to just speak the absolute truth now.

 “I know who you are. Natalia Romanov, black widow, graduate of the red room. You’re more dangerous than what you are showing now. You don’t have to hide what you are.” 

He says this and her eyes narrow for just a moment before she shrugs her shoulders and the mask falls away.  She isn’t trembling anymore, shoulders aren’t hunched in fear and worry any more, are straightened and she has grabbed the knife again, is starting straight at Steve. She still looks young but there is something old about her eyes, something hard and Steve  wonders if they will soften in time, if she can soften. 

“I have not been called Natalia for a while. Who gave you that name?”

 “I did.”

Bucky is here now, has closed the window behind him and they both turn to him. Another change settles over her now, eyes widening just a bit and Steve would almost say she is seeing a ghost.  She is in some ways, both he and Bucky are ghosts as far as the rest of the world knows, ghosts from a time long ago.  

“Winter.”

 It is one word and she says it like  a name, like it is something precious and maybe to her , it is. It makes Steve flinch inside, he hates that name, hates that the title was forced upon Bucky but now it not the time to bring that up so he stays quiet right now. 

“Hello, Natalia. We should all talk, but not here. Will you come with us?” 

She hesitates for just a moment, gives a little glance over to Steve and then looks back at Bucky, gives a little nod and puts the knife down. Bucky comes forward then, offers a hand and she takes it, her red hand clasping the metal and Steve can see how they fit together.  She gets cleaned up  and then they leave, the three of them, Bucky putting himself in between the two of them and Steve feels like this is the beginning of something, something important that he can’t quite name yet. There will be time to name it later, right now all of their hands are clean for the moment and they are heading to somewhere safe, that should be enough for now.


End file.
